Popsicle
by Kristina Zhao
Summary: When the weather is so hot, help yourself with an ice-cold popsicle. When the boy is so hot, give him your popsicle and have him instead.


Disclaimer: Higuchi Tachibana's the author and owner of Gakuen Alice and its characters. I'm merely just an inspired writer.

[A/N: OOC-ness.]

Enjoy~

POPSICLES by Zhao Kristina

"Hotaru~ I feel so hot! Can't you create an invention that will push that damned sun behind those clouds?" Mikan Sakura, an 18-year old high school student of Gakuen Alice, whined to her bestfriend, Hotaru Imai, for the nth time 'round this day.

"Mikan, I swear to those goddamn laces of Narumi that if you won't shut your trap right now, I'll use this contraption on you," Hotaru threatened, her patience threading thin. To emphasize her promising words, she pushed the nozzle near to Mikan's face which was currently rubbing on Hotaru's bare right arm.

Mikan sweatdropped, backing away from the ruthless inventor for a few feet.

"Chill," she started out, "what I am just telling is that don't you feel too warm and sticky? I'm just worried that maybe you can't concentrate on your inventions right now because of the damned weather~"

"Oh~ really? Then go, buy us some ice cream," Hotaru taunted her, pointing at the 7/11 store just a couple of meters in front of them.

Mikan grinned, widely. 'Ah~ I know Hotaru is so sweet—' her thoughts were cut off by Hotaru.

"—go now."

"E-eh?" She confusingly stared at her empty palms. 'Hotaru didn't even give a single cent for me! Where were the bills I fantasized about? What did she mean by 'buy us some ice cream'?! '

BAKA! BAKA!

"Hotaru!" she complained, craddling her abused head.

Hotaru pointed the nozzle towards her at an arm's length.

"A-Alright, alright! Meanie!" Mikan protested before she ran to the store like a madman.

Hotaru walked towards the store at a leisure pace.

"Konnichiwa~!" Mikan greeted the cashier as soon as she opened the door.

"Oh! Sakura-san! What a surprise to see you here," the female cashier greeted back.

"Yeah," she explained. "I am here with Hotaru." Mikan pointed at the slow-paced Hotaru.

"Oh! Well then, I won't disrupt you. She seems deadly right now. You better go and buy her what she asked you."

"I know. And she's a big meanie, making me spend money on her again," Mikan pouted. Still frustrated at Hotaru's stingy attitude.

The female cashier sweatdropped. She can't help it. After all, having already known them both for a few years, all she could say was that the friendship between this Hotaru Imai-Mikan Sakura tandem was a bizarre sight. It was like trying to avoid the obvious booby-traps.

"Well, I'll go make haste now, Hayama-san. See you later," Mikan said with a wide smile, waving at the cashier.

Mikan then walked straight towards the ice cream section.

However.

She stopped on her tracks, infront of the ice cream fridge.

There was no ice cream left! Where the hell are her babies? 'Magnum? xxxx? xxx? Where are you?! Oh! Nevermind, there are still yoghurt popsicles!'

Before she could react, a toned arm suddenly appeared out of nowhere at her side, reaching down inside the ice cream fridge, grabbing the last two pieces of yoghurt ice popsicles and disappeared.

It took her a minute or two to snap out of it.

Her popsicles!!! Who was that f!@#ing man?! Who dared?!

Finally, she chased the culprit in anger.

There, she saw the handsome back of a six-footer man, or even taller than six-feet flat, with velvet raven hair. His crisp, clean white dress shirt was tucked inside his grey-coloured slack pants. His black backpack enhanced the masculinity of his back, especially his neck. All in all, his back was so alluring that she had forgotten her purpose for chasing after him.

BAKA! BAKA!

"Mikan." Someone called her. A feminine voice.

Silence. No response from her.

BAKA!

A few spectators, consisting of Hotaru, a blonde man, the raven-haired dude, and the female cashier, sweatdropped. Even the raven-haired thief turned 'round at the commotion.

"Mi-kan!" Hotaru growled.

"O-Oh, Hotaru! You're finally here— BAKA!— WTF! Why did you do that? Do you know how hard it was for me to fight the internal battle I have right now for your goddamn popsicles? I'll buy you on another store since there was this tall and handsome guy who stole— Ack!" Finally, she noticed that the raven-haired thief from awhile ago is now staring at her with mirth in his eyes! With his hot, seductive, tantalizing, fiery red eyes! F!@#

"YOU!" Mikan shouted in defense, quite contradictory to her flushed face.

"Me?" the man replied back, with a hint of mockery in his tone.

"Yes, you! Stop staring at me! And give me those popsicles! I got them first before you abducted them from me! You—you, popsicle thief!"

"It's not my fault that you were stupidly staring and uttering some kind of a stupid mantra infront of it rather than grabbing ahold of it," he retorted back, quite angry at this noisy, stupid girl.

"But still! You did not asked my permission!"

"I don't need a permission from you nor any permission from anybody who stares at popsicles like a dimwit. Besides, I already paid for this." The young, handsome, raven-haired man kinda felt stupid for doing this, for teasing this girl who is acting like kid, but he still did it otherwise. He ripped open the package and gave the popsicle a few licks. "See?"

"You—!" Mikan's anger flared up. He was clearly mocking her! How dare he?! She shall take revenge on the poor abducted popsicle.

While the two are still in a heated argument over a popsicle as the cashier amusingly watched them, the blonde man, who seemed to be at the same age as the raven-haired lad, looked at his side. It was his girlfriend. His evil, raven-haired girlfriend named Hotaru Imai.

"Hotaru, what are you doing here? Are you with that girl?" he inquired, kissing her cheeks afterwards in greeting.

Hotaru didn't spare him a glance as she continued to stare at her stupid bestfriend and her boyfriend's bestfriend. In her mind, she thinks that they suit well together. An idiot and another idiot.

"Yes, unfortunately. That idiot's been nagging endlessly about how the damned weather is hot. Thus, we're here. However, the other idiot ignited the fire from within her. Ta-da, two idiots meet together," she replied, nonchalantly. He can't help but sweatdropped.

"Oh! Here, the second popsicle. Do you feel hot? Do you want me to buy you drinks? Do you feel hungry? I'll buy you anything you want," He offered as he ripped the plastic-covered popsicle open. Hotaru sweetly thank-ed him as she nodded. "Hmm~"

And so, the two went over the food and beverage aisles.

"—fault?! It is your fault that I'm nagging at you like this! Give me back that popsicle!" Mikan yelled.

"Shut up! You're making my ears bleed! Goddamit! Go buy another! If you want, I'll buy you one next time as long as you shut the f!@# up!"

"No! I want that popsicle in your hands! They are mine!"

"Oh? You like me that much that you want to take my already-licked popsicle? You're scary."

"W-what?! N-no?! The f!@#ing hell no!"

Mikan blushed deep crimson, just like the eyes of this sexy, handsome guy in front of her.

"Ugh! Fine! Buy me another one next time! No. Buy me two as an interest! After all, you took both of my favourite flavored-popsicles!" she taunted, admitting defeat.

"Wha—! Okay, fine. I'll buy you two popsicle sticks next time, your majesty," The lad mockingly retorted as he rolled his eyeballs.

"Hmph!" Mikan then took out her phone.

"Here! Enter your number with your name and address so you won't escape the deal. I won't let you get away with my popsicles!" Mikan offered her phone towards his direction.

"Oh~ To start it off, I am Natsume. So, you actually—" The crimson-eyed lad started.

"Don't even think about it. I do NOT like you. In fact, I despise you. I wanna shove that popsicle into your face, or into your mouth so that you'll choke and get a brain freeze and die. Tch."

The cashier giggled at the antics of the two. Despite being quite older than the two, she knows when to say that there is a spark between two people in front of her.

"H-Hayama-san! O-Oh, I'm sorry for making a huge scene inside the store. Thanks for not kicking us out—"

"—don't include me, I'm an innocent victim here." Natsume saved Mikan's number in his phonebook after using her phone to call his phone, labelling himself as 'Hot Stuff' on her phone and herself as 'Piglet' on his phone.

"Ugh! Jerk!" Mikan seized her phone back, putting it back into her skirt pocket without glancing at what he typed down at all.

"S-sorry again, Hayama-san. Ne~ btw, Hayama-san, where are my babies? Why did I not see them there?"

Natsume's ears perked up at that. 'Babies?'

"Oh! The Magnums? Sorry 'bout that, Sakura-san. In a span of five hours, customers come and go to this store to buy ice cream and frozen desserts." The cashier apologized. Mikan's smile turned into a deep frown, then back to a wide smile.

"It's okay! Next time, I'll let this demon buy a truckload for me!"

"You said only two!" Natsume protested. This girl was so stupid that she even considered the ice cream her 'babies'. Damn. So childish.

Hayama-san can't help but chuckled. Her eyes were holding some glints of mischief at the second meaning of Mikan's words.

"If you say so, Sakura-san."

"Mikan," Hotaru called out.

"Natsume." Together with Hotaru was the blonde man named Ruka , who was also Hotaru's boyfriend, was carrying two baskets filled with goodies. Drinks, snacks, nuts, biscuits, bars of chocolate, and a whole lot more.

Mikan's eyes sparkled. At the goodies. Mikan's eyes sparkled more at the sight of a man who seemed intimate with her nonchalant bestfriend.

"Hotaru!" Mikan hugged Hotaru's neck. "I missed you~ Save me from that jerk~" She pointed her index finger at Natsume's direction.

"Let go of me. Or I'll shoot you with my bazooka." (A/N: Hotaru-chan seemed to have brought her bazooka, too. Lol, wishin' I also have an alice.)

Everyone, except Hotaru, sweatdropped.

Mikan hesistantly let go of her but stared waryingly at Ruka's direction.

"Mikan. Stop staring at my boyfriend like he's an alien."

"B-boyfriend?! I didn't know that! Hotaru, you meanie!"

BAKA!

"Super meanie!"

"We just got together, dummy. Stop your idiotic scene. Ruka, introduce yourself," Hotaru commanded.

"O-oh, yes, Hotaru," Ruka nodded.

Natsume rolled his eyes as Hayama-san giggled.

"I'm Ruka Nogi, Sakura-san. I heard a lot about you from Hotaru-chan. You can call me Ruka, btw," he said, showing off his princely smile.

"Oh, hi Ruka-pyon—" she started.

"Pyon?" Hotaru asked, caught off-guard.

"P-pyon?!" Ruka asked, blushing deeply.

"Hn."—Natsume, inwardly chuckling.

"—yes, 'cause you look like a poor, abducted white rabbit next to my hybrid shark-piranha of a bestf—BAKA! BAKA!— ouch! Hotaru! That was rude, you know. I was just telling him the truth." Mikan rubbed her enlarging bump, her eyes watered.

Hotaru rolled her eyes as Ruka and Hayama-san chuckled.

Natsume was staring at her like she had grown two-heads. 'No wonder she's an idiot. She has been hit by Imai with that damn thing for the nth time since I've seen her.' Natsume thought, shuddering at the memory when he first encountered Imai and said 'Hello' to that hell-ish of a thing invention.

"Here you go, Imai-san. Your purchases." Hayama-san broke the silence. Hotaru walked towards the purchased goods as she pulled out drinks for the four of them as Ruka then carry both plastic bags for Hotaru.

"Thank you," Ruka said to the lady cashier, gratefully.

Hotaru handed Mikan her favourite strawberry-flavored Mogu Mogu straight from ice-cold fridge, well before it was placed inside the bags.

"Thanks~ Hotaru! Love you, too~"

And Natsume received Monster Energy drink from her.

"Hn."

He stared at it, then at Mikan's drink which was being devoured happily by the auburn-haired.

"Bye, Hayama-san~ Thanks~" And the four left.

As the four of them were already a few meters away from the store, Ruka suddenly spoke up, "Oh, I remembered. I haven't properly introduced my bestfriend to you, Sakura-san. He's Natsume Hyuuga, an upperclassman of the business department. And Natsume, Sakura-san here is also an upperclassman from the liberal arts department."

"Hmph. Still a jerk." But Mikan smiled at Natsume, nonetheless.

"I'm Mikan Sakura, btw. Nice to meet you again, Natsume-kun~"

Natsume just replied his usual, "Hn."

Mikan's lip twitched at his reply. Seeing this, Ruka interluded, saying, "Don't mind him, Sakura-san. He's always like that."

"I-I see. Don't worry, Ruka-pyon, it's okay."

Hotaru sniggered. Mikan glared at her.

"So, Ruka-pyon, since when did you became this robot's boyfriend?" Hotaru sneered at her, Mikan smirked, playfully hiding behind Natsume's back, using him as a shield. He didn't seemed to mind though, especially when he felt her nimble fingers curling gently on his shirt.

While they are walking on the pavement road towards the academy, they engaged in a conversation.

Before separating ways, Mikan and Natsume standby at the side while Hotaru and Ruka talked, privately.

Mikan felt thirsty, so she opened her Mogu Mogu. Sadly, before her lips could even touch the bottle's mouth, her Mogu Mogu was stolen from her grasps! Who stole it? Natsume! Natsume again! Mikan's nose flared.

"Nat-su-me!!!"

Birds from the nearby forest shunned from trees in fear.

Everyone, including Hotaru and Ruka, looked at Mikan.

"Sakura-sa—"

Then he saw it. Natsume was drinking directly from the strawberry-flavored Mogu Mogu's bottle which he guessed as Mikan's.

"You thief! You're doing it again!" Mikan yelled. Seemingly, her attention was focused on his act of stealing rather than on his act of intimacy. She seemed to not mind him drinking directly into her bottle's mouth which can be considered as an indirect kissing from the two of them.

"I'll buy you lots. I'm thirsty," he negotiated.

"But didn't you have that energy drink?! And you could have politely asked me instead of abruptly grabbing it while I was on the verge of drinking it."

"Hn. I'll buy you more each day."

Mikan can't help but sigh. "Alright! Promise me that, pinky swear?"

He looked at her, weirdly. "Are you that childish?"

Mikan ignored him and hooked his pinky with hers. "There. If you break the promise, I'll haunt you forever."

"Fine with me."

The crowd dispersed from crowding 'round the senseless scene. Without them noticing, Hotaru and Ruka have.slipped away, leaving them both alone together.

In a minute or two, Mikan spoke again, "I'll see you then?"

"Hn."

"I'll be expecting you and your promise."

"Yeah, yeah."

"See you later, Natsume~" and she fled from the scene, leaving her Mogu Mogu in his grasp.

"… See you later, Mikan…"

—end—


End file.
